matt davis

It was unseasonably warm for late September when AOL TV visited the Monroe, Ga. set of 'The Vampire Diaries' last month. But the 92-degree weather set the scene all the better for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' the episode the cast and crew were filming that day.

Although it's the sixth episode of the third season, it's actually the Mystic Falls High gang's first day of senior year. (We've only gone a year since the pilot.) That means cheerleading practice, football practice, and everything else that comes with having good ol' fashioned school spirit.

We haven't been able to share the details of our visit until now, so please enjoy this behind-the-scenes peek at 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and watch Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Candice Accola, Michael Trevino and Matt Davis doing their best to share some spoiler-free details about the episode. Plus, you'll get a look at the Mystic Falls Timberwolves' newest cheerleader. You might've seen her before somewhere...

Confession time: Matt Davis, who plays high school teacher Alaric on 'The Vampire Diaries,' was never really into his character's romantic relationship with former Gilbert guardian Aunt Jenna.

"I felt that it was ultimately forced and never really fully developed in a way that I thought I could really bring a lot of life to it," he admitted recently in an interview with AOL TV.

That's not to say he didn't love working with Sara Canning, whose character was killed off at the end of Season 2. "As much as I was heartbroken to lose Sara -- as we were all heartbroken to lose her -- I creatively was relieved to be free of that relationship, because I just felt like it was difficult for me to really be in touch with it."

Why, exactly, was he so disconnected from the relationship? "I got tired of playing the doubt of lying to Jenna, the doubt of not being able to tell her what's really going on and his constant churning of like, 'What do I do? I'm lying to her, I'm this liar, I'm such a bad person,'" Davis said. "I really am glad that he's moving beyond that and he's coming into a state where he's much more open. I think his purpose is reactivated."

Read on for more of what Davis revealed when we visited the Atlanta-area 'Vampire Diaries' set, including an intriguing new twist for his character, his hopes for a new Alaric love interest, and how much fun he had while his character was possessed by the evil half-vampire, half-werewolf hybrid, Klaus.

Yes, 'Vampire Diaries' fans, I know that's all anyone can talk about these days, but come on -- the guy is an Original. We've witnessed some pretty powerful supernatural stuff on that show, but Klaus' arrival will absolutely be the craziest thing we've seen yet.

We hit the Atlanta set of 'The Vampire Diaries' to catch up with the cast and talk all about the O.G. fanged one's arrival in Mystic Falls. Who's met Klaus so far? And who's gone head-to-head with him? "Actually I've just shot one scene with him so far," Paul Wesley revealed. "It was pretty submissive ... one of us was relatively submissive. [laughs]"

Katerina Graham dished about Bonnie's inevitable showdown with Klaus: "She's the one person -- that's been revealed -- that can stop him. ... So I don't think she's expecting to just fly to Hawaii and forget about him for a while."

(S01E20) "You're back on Bambi blood, and I'm a badass big brother again. All is right in the world." - Damon to Stefan

A jealous brother, an evil uncle, and a trusting girlfriend all played into this episode of 'The Vampire Diaries.' We also got some flashbacks that revealed more of the Salvatore brothers' backstory and why Damon hates Stefan so much. Although, really, if he hated him that much, he wouldn't have organized the rescue mission to extract Stefan out of the vampires' farmhouse lair. Maybe he did it more for Elena than anything else.

And is it just me, or are Damon and Elena getting awfully chummy lately? I'll answer my own question: yes, they are.